CATSKILL — Catskill Middle School on West Main Street will be the first testing site for the coronavirus in Greene County, a Catskill lawmaker said Wednesday.
Greene County received a shipment of more than 1,000 tests from the state late Monday night, Emergency Management Specialist Dan King confirmed.
Unlike other recent shipments, these 1,080 tests are not restricted to adult-care facilities, Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger, R-New Baltimore, said at Monday’s legislature committee meetings.
“Public Health will have to go through them [the tests] because the last batch that came from the state, there was a fair amount of them that were leaking and unusable,” Linger said.
Public Health is working to establish testing sites within the county, Linger said.
The first testing site will be at Catskill Middle School on Saturday, Legislator Matthew Luvera, R-Catskill, said, with locations in Cairo and on the mountaintop to follow.
Catskill Village President Vincent Seeley said he was contacted by representatives from Walmart about beginning testing services at its Catskill supercenter. Testing would be offered by appointment only, Seeley said, adding that a launch date for the program has not been finalized.
Columbia County offered testing for up to 100 pre-approved residents last Friday at Columbia-Greene Community College in collaboration with Columbia Memorial Health.
The Columbia County Department of Health plans to hold the next testing clinic in Hudson to reach people who may not have access to a car.
Columbia Memorial Health continues to limit testing to patients who are hospitalized, according to its website.
Each county has received 200 test kits from the state.
Columbia County ordered 2,000 commercial testing kits from Thermo Fisher Scientific using donated funds. The county has received 1,000 kits so far, with an additional 1,000 kits expected in the coming weeks.
Greene County also placed a commercial order for 700 test kits. The county has received the first 25 kits of the order, Linger said.
WellNow Urgent Care, with locations in Hudson and Albany, is offering traditional COVID-19 testing, as well as antibody testing. These tests are available to patients experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or who have been exposed to the virus. No appointment is necessary, according to wellnow.com, and patients will receive results in three to five days.
Rite Aid in Colonie is offering COVID-19 testing, as is SUNY Albany. Rite Aid has an online pre-screening form, which patients can fill out and then schedule an appointment. To be tested at SUNY Albany, you must call the state’s COVID-19 hotline 1-888-364-3065, and go through a screening process to be approved for testing, at which point you will receive a PIN number.
Albany County is also partnering with the Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Center to offer mobile testing throughout the county. Testing can also be received at the center itself after being pre-approved and scheduling an appointment. A list of the mobile locations can be found at https://www.wmyhealth.org/covid-19-updates/covid-19-testing/
To schedule an appointment, call 518-465-4771.
Walgreens has testing in 13 states and CVS has testing in five states, but the pharmacy chains are not offering the service in New York at this time.
Ulster County has three testing sites: TechCity in Kingston, Kingston Midtown Mobile Testing Site at Grand Street and Ellenville Regional Hospital.
For the TechCity and Ellenville locations, a doctor’s order is required. For the Midtown Kingston location, no doctor’s order is needed but an appointment is required. To go through the screening process for an appointment, call 845-393-2730.